The invention relates to pickup trucks, which are vehicles having a load-carrying box behind the driver's cab. More particularly, the invention relates to an extendable liner for a pickup truck box. Pickup trucks are vehicles designed for carrying small to medium size loads in an open bed or box which is located behind the driver's cab. As the box opens upwardly, it is readily accessible from the exterior of the vehicle for the loading and unloading of objects and materials.
Recently, caps for pickup trucks have become popular. These caps are fiberglass covers which enclose the pickup truck box so that it may be used as a camper. Typically the cap is installed on the box for extended periods. As a result, it becomes difficult to load and unload the pickup truck box. It is necessary for a person to climb into the box and crawl under the cap in order to retrieve objects or materials which are stored in the pickup truck box.
One solution to this problem has been to provide a moveable tool box which runs on casters so that it can be moved from the front of the pickup truck box to the rear for easier access. Such a moveable tool box is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,635,992 issued to Hamilton et al. on Jan. 13, 1987. This is a suitable solution for the storage of tools, but does not solve the problem for other types of loads. Drawer-like arrangements for pickup truck boxes are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,731 issued Mar. 4, 1986 to Knaack and U.S. Pat. No. 2,784,027 issued Mar. 5, 1957 to Temp. The purpose of these arrangements, however, is to provide an orderly storage unit beneath a false floor of the box. These drawers are not adapted for storing or supporting the heavy loads for which the pickup truck box itself is designed to carry.
The present invention provides an extendable liner for a pickup truck box which allows the complete load from the pickup truck box to be extended from the rear of the pickup truck for easy access. The invention includes a liner which slides horizontally in, and extends from the pickup truck box. The liner is supported on a three part roller assembly. The roller assembly includes a central pair of carriages on which are mounted a plurality of rollers, a first pair of tracks which are secured to the pickup truck box and a second pair of tracks which are secured to the liner.